the way up
by seinooo.kcvii
Summary: ...what would've been, could've been, should've been expected to happen. For The Sacred and Profane.


_the way up_.

This one's for you, Sacred. :D

* * *

She wished for the thousandth time she could bring Chicobo over. Or at least have someone come over that day.

"Okay, Elhaym, it's your turn," the class teacher said with the same smile plastered to her face he had shown to the other kids and their parents before Elly's turn. From her seat, Elly lifted her head from beneath her arms and glanced left and right. The boy one seat to the front dug his ear with the blunt end of his wooden pencil. Others seemed to display indifference at random stages like the one who was still digging his ear.

Indifference. That was the word she had learnt the week before. She may be talking only about her parents that day with nothing or no one to _show_.

No pet, no mama or papa.

Even Uncle Cloud couldn't come for that day despite his visit to their house the day before—with a weird excuse of needing to go hang out with Uncle Cid. She felt a calming presence behind gently guide her step by step to the front. "Don't worry. Have faith."—was all she heard faintly in the air.

"Hello and good morning," she said. "I…" She wasn't sure if she should be there all alone. All she could do was glance at the clock. "Could I have a few more minutes, please?"

The teacher nodded. "Five minutes the most, Elhaym."

"Be right back!" she called as she ran out of her class, towards the main exit and stopped at the foyer. After a moment of pacing back and forth, she heard a vehicle pull over and searched for it. It was only one of the school staff.

Bummer. Not mama or papa.

Her five minutes was almost over and she slowly dragged her feet towards the class. "Back," she said and all eyes are on her. She sighed. "Another fiv—"

The door swung open. "Sorry for the wait and barging in like this!"

Elly could not believe her eyes. "Papa!" Her father was in his work suit with his tie up neatly. Elly could only stare at him with her mouth open. Mama would be the reason papa's loking smart like this, she thought. Usually she threatens him, at most bribe and the simplest would be a half-yelling "_Ohmigosh, Reno, stop that! You're not a kid!_'

Reno gave her a wink at her when Tifa entered in a more relaxed manner. "There's a traffic jam somewhere," she said.

"Mama!"

With her parents there, Elly knew it was going to be okay. Slowly she took her mother's hand with her right and her father's on the left and they walked to the center of the space. As she let go, she could hear her mother whisper a good luck to her. She needn't good luck. Not when she had revised the points with Uncle Cloud what she should be saying in class.

"Here are parents. Mama's name, as you all are aware, is" – she paused, feeling her cheeks heat as everyone in her class cheered for – "Tifa Lockhart." She had no idea that after years of living happily in low profile like everyone else in town, her mother was still well known. "And papa, Reno."

Elly inhaled slowly and her following exhale ended with a smile, a technique she had copied from her mother to calm herself down. She held her hands together tightly. "Mama works in a small restaurant-slash-bar named Seventh Heaven. Um… Aunt Yuffie helps out often. Marlene and Denzel would come if they have free time and so does Uncle Cloud…" By that time, Elly had released her grip and began gesturing— "Uncle Cid only comes if something's up. He has a potty mouth and he's way better at that than Uncle Barret. Uncle Tseng doesn't like it whenever they start bombing around. He says they're ruffians. Oh, and _everyone_ comes around every Sunday. It's really fun! Once papa dared everyone to burp and he did the loudest."

The whole class laughed with her.

"Papa always wears his uniform to work—"

"Hey, El," one kid shot her hand up. "What does your dad do?"

_Here comes the bonus question_, Reno thought. He fidgeted around even when Tifa held his hand firmly. They hadn't rehearsed with Elly what to say about _them_.

"He's a moogle man," she said simply. "At Golden Saucer."

_Eh?_ Reno blinked, glanced at Tifa who was stifling her giggles and back at his daughter.

The girl asking the question nodded. "Oh, I've seen that one before. The one in Golden Saucer's entrance, right? He sells tons of balloons." Some kids nodded in agreement. "He falls down _a lot_." She laughed. The others started laughing again, each saying that they got the biggest balloons from each other.

_I frickin' did not fall._ Reno sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He remembered a piece of memory when he was in cahoots with his daughter in tricking Tifa going there for her surprise birthday party. He just happened to lunge forward catching Elly's falling body in time—oh _that'_s it. Everything had ended well, despite him having torn off a part of the moogle's spongy, wide stomach.

"Okay, kids. Be sure to stop by anytime! We have free yoghurts!" Tifa smiled seeing most of the kids 'wow'ed. Reno nudged her side, gaining full attention from her as he pulled her close.

"Teef, free yoghurt? I thought that was for the orphans _only_?" he said on the corner of hsi mourh.

She leaned her head on Reno's shoulder. "That's what all capitalists like you think about. It isn't painful to give something to someone in goodwill."

"But it's a bloody pain to work for the money."

Tifa landed a light kick on his leg from behind. "Reno."

"Okay, okay. Persevere. Somehow. What about the pet?"

"Cloud said he'll deal with it. I just hope he didn't abduct one of Nanaki's kids."

The door crashed open and Yuffie cartwheeled right into the class, spraying confetti all over in random directions, adding some glittery pieces of dust. "Hey there, kiddies, parents and missus teacher! Yuffie's making a great welcome foooor Elly's pet!"

All eyes peered to the empty doorway.

"Now it's still a baby and it might bite. Or peck." Some of the little girls sank deeper in their seats.

Silence.

"Hm, where the heck is he? Oh, Cloooud!" Yuffie clapped her hands and look at the door expectantly.

Reno snorted as he hid his face on the base of Tifa's neck, shaking in laughter. The thought of Cloud as a pet was a laughable matter enough. Or if that wasn't the matter, he'd be abducting a wild chicobo in the guise of a chocobo parent. Or maybe not, depending how much gel he applied on this hair that day. That man would do anything for his favorite niece, huh? "Oh. God. My stomach's hurting, Teef."

Tifa cringed inwardly. She had left everything in Cloud's hands…on the price of something which she had sentimental value over. This was just—

_Kweh!_

The said Cloud entered with a three-foot tall chicobo with a blue collar tagging behind him, making all thirty little monsters shriek in delight at it Elly gasped. "It's Chicobo! Uncle Cloud, you brought him here?" She took off to attack Cloud with a tight hug and patting the yellow fluff soon after. "I thought he hates parting with his mommy."

Cloud shrugged as he looked at her. "I thought Cid found a temporary replacement for that but I don't know…he asked me to stand by this little buddy."

Yuffie fell sideways laughing. "Hey, Cloud, you do know _you're_ the replacement, right?"

A pang of realization was evident in Cloud's red face. "Shut up, Yuffie." Soon, the whole class, along with each kid's parent, joined her incessant snickers.

"Alright, alright. I'll go take a look around to see if Cid's here, _dad_." She stifled her laughs as she made her way out.

"Okay," Elly began. "This is Chicobo. Mama said to let him stay with Uncle Cloud. Chicobo likes gysahl greens and running around."

Just then Yuffie's yell could be heard. "Holy crap! Cloud! SOS! SO—ouch! It just kicked my shuriken!" Which was followed by a loud wark from an undoubtedly a bigger chocobo than Chicobo.

"Dammit, Spike! Barret an' I can't hold 'er down any more! Yer goddamn' bird's gone wild!" Cid barked from outside.

"Shi—crap. Elly, here's a gysahl green if you need it." Cloud tossed the item at her direction. "Don't shove it up its beak, hear me?"

"Okay! Thanks, Uncle Cloud!"

There was a loud crash and a snapping branch. _Kweh!_

Cloud rushed out of the class via an open window yelling the bird's name to ease her raging pecks and stomps.

Yuffie continued to panic. "Cloud! Mayday! Why the heck does it aim for - no, no, no, no, not the parking lot!" Her voices drowned in the middle of the growing laughter and the chocobo's wark was the loudest of them all.

Elly turned to the class and continued, "As you all know, that one on mommy chocobo's left is Uncle Barret and that is Uncle Cid, pulling the reins." One by one, the heads are sticking out of the windows and most of her classmates were looking at the adults outside in amusement.

"And this is, in short, my family. But not all of them. Despite the fact you think living with heroes is cool, there are a lot of times they mess up, just like any normal person would. Thank you for your attention." Elly curtseyed, grinning all over as her classmates and teacher gave a round of applause.

The school day ended with both birds sent back to their stables on Cid's airship with Cloud as their pacifier. Elly held her parents' hands tight. "Mama, papa?" Both Reno and Tifa looked at their daughter. "I finally get to know that home is where the heart is." She paused. "Thanks. I thought you won't be coming."

"We're just waiting for Cloud but he said to go on without us," Tifa said. "Have you fastened your seatbelt?" Elly nodded.

Reno scoffed as he started the engine. "He'd do something like that."

"Reno, your seatbelt," Tifa said, pulling hers down.

"But seatbelts aren't cool," he said, almost in a whine.

"Coming out of a hospital with casts and bandages aren't cool either, papa." Elly laughed with her mother.

Tifa put one hand to her cheek and smiled sweetly. "What she said, honey." After a few more comments and laughs, the car left the parking space with the family singing some repetitive songs.

* * *

The night before…

"Teef." Cloud watched Tifa stride over from the table she had just done wiping vigorously to another which was scattered with peanut shells and began cleaning it.

"You come all the way here the second time and you _look_ like you want something but you're not talking." She began wiping the table from the centre, going to the edges. "I can't help if you won't talk."

"Well, I was helping Elly earlier… and I," Cloud paused and coughed. "…think _I_ could help. You know. With the pet stuff."

"I'm not sure, Cloud. Last time I asked you for some greens," – she leaned a bit as she turned to face Cloud, who was still rooted on his spot, seemingly debating with himself whether to speak or not – "you brought a beyond large _dead pepper_. Who on earth eats that? Except for chocobos, but that's out of the question." She blew her bangs after having failed to shake them to the right.

Cloud held her shoulder, effectively stopping her from twisting water off after rinsing it in the sink. "Teef, look me in my eyes." He turned her around, facing a puzzled looking Tifa. "I can, alright? I know just the animal she likes to feed when she comes over to my place."

Tifa knew she couldn't ignore him just like that. "Mm-hm, if you insist," she said finally. She had wondered what made him that eager to help, even more, pacing countless times on her doorstep.

"Thanks, Teef."

"Make sure you don't pick up a Zolom bastard by accident. I heard those things crap everywhere," Reno called from the kitchen.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "What's he doin' _there_?"

Tifa shrugged and looked at him sheepishly. "Apparently Elly likes his version of scrambled eggs. I raise my white flag there."

"That's a first." Cloud laughed. "See you tomorrow." He exited and dialed a number as he kicked Fenrir to life.

Cid Highwind's voice shot through. _"'sup, Spike?"_

"Can you do me a favor? I broke one of Tifa's vases earlier this day and I'm not sure if she noticed it or not…" He mentally crossed his fingers as he glanced at one of the lit windows.

It was only moments after Cloud had left the premises of the Lockharts' home did Tifa yell: "Cloooud!"

In a transparent glass jar, large pieces of porcelain were stacked on top of each other, small shards of green with speckled dust scattered on top and seeping through the crevices of the larger ones. A yellow post-it was plastered on the bulging surface, with the thick, black _S_ standing out.

_Sorry._

_-Cloud_

And in Tifa's voice message inbox was Cloud's recorded voice: _I mean it. I'll make it up to you._

.

.

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a.n. Again, sorry. Really. I didn't think you'd have to wait this long. )x I had stuff to do. My muse brain juices are evaporating and I forgot – kinda – how to write. I'd totally understand if you won't like this. I guess this is one of the worst I did. It's almost 3 am and I'm so sleepy that I spelt keybeard for keyboard. If there's a typo or something, I'll get back to it. 0:

Thanks for reading.

-kcvii.


End file.
